<p>I'm an incoming college freshman and I'm currently on my schools Facebook page searching for a roommate. I've began talking to people, but I don't know how to find the "right" one. I've had some friendships develop because of social media, but I'd always met them at least once in person before beginning to talk to them online. And because I'm most likely going to a school out of my home state, it'd be difficult to meet them in person before college.</p>
<p>So, that being said, I'd just like some personal input:
How have you guys found your roommate? Did you rely on the schools random search or did you find them online? Did you end up liking them? Often times people get along online but wouldn't be compatible in person, how do you avoid this when picking a roommate online?
Any other personal examples or advice would be appreciated too. </p>
<p>A lot of colleges have a sort of housing survey you fill out with questions like “What time do you normally go to bed?” or “Do you study with music playing?” and they will use that to randomly match you. If your school has something like that then random assignments often work out (mine did). Talking to someone on Facebook briefly won’t tell you a whole lot, but if you become legitimate friends with someone then it’s a good method (I suggest taking note of how hygienic they are, if they have incompatible habits, etc) . Anyways, worst case scenario is that you or your roommate switch dorms a few weeks in.</p>
<p>A lot of Facebook pages have profiles for you to fill out (smoking vs. non-smoking, how late do you stay up, LGBT* friendly or not, etc.) and you can post that and people can talk to you if they’re similar people. Many students choose to use the internal matching service, and I’ve heard generally good things about that route (depending on the college, obviously). I haven’t begun finding a roommate yet, but I used Facebook to find my two roommates for a summer college programme - that’s kind of different, but we talked extensively before requesting to be roommates, and it went great. This was one and a half years ago and we still talk at least once a week.</p>
<p>One of my friends found her roommate on Facebook, but made kind of a rushed decision as soon as she found someone who seemed kind of like her. She regrets that decision. Make sure that you don’t rush in to anything.</p>
Most schools have these basic questions to answer about your personality. Such as if you smoke, your bedtime, your music preferences and more. I feel that those questions don’t exactly help you find “the perfect roommate.” Usually your freshman year roommate will be someone you get paired with, meet on Facebook or maybe meet at an orientation session. If you feel you can’t find the right match don’t panic. Remember you and your roomie don’t need to be immediate BFF’s, but you need to be civil towards each other. My freshman year roommate was great to be begin with but turned kinda of controlling. I met her through a matching thing the school offered. My second roommate was random and we got along fine until the second semester, but we were also both transfer students. My roomies this year are random but I like them a lot. Sometimes random is best. It really depends. You will find your match eventually. And don’t worry if you don’t find them right away.